babul

The Transit Navigation android app is a welcome addition, but I wish these types of android apps would work without constant need for data connection (i.e. would cache results and work offline once route downloaded) as nothing is worse than taking an underground train and losing all route information due to loss of signal. On a side-note "Pubtran London" is another good (and free) android app for London travel which also takes into account route/line closures and can also find National Rail train times/route info (for entire UK) from within same tool.

It's sad no one ever paid for the service, but if not don't talk to customers or potential customers (people who pay, not "users" i.e. in the sense of people that do not pay), you'll never know what they want. Generally, it's only when people part with cash that you know you are providing value.

However, major kudos for releasing the code and design docs so others can try some tangent, along with the post-mortem so others can avoid similar pitfalls. That's seriously cool and not something I often see people do for projects they invested so much in. Thanks.

Unless you root your device, which can invalidate your warranty with most manufacturers and service providers (at least here in UK - hence why many people don't want to do it), and use a app like ShootMe (which I found to be good and also one of the least intrusive in terms of required permissions), taking screenshots on most Android handsets is a pain.

You can install the Android SDK (and required dependencies) which includes tools you can use to grab screens, but I found it easier for most people to install a tool like MyPhoneExplorer (which is free, includes ADB, and is very easy for non-technical people to install) and the driver for their phone (usually on the handset itself for many devices e.g. HTC phones) instead. The big benefit is not only does it have a built-in and easy way to take screenshots, but also can be used to backup/restore your phone including all contacts/mms/sms/apps/settings/etc, and can be used for multiple handsets (or you can make different profiles for same handset as a crude version control), different phones e.g. Samsung/HTC/Nokia, and different OS e.g. as used on Nokia/SonyEricson/BB/etc, so makes transfer or CRUD of contacts/mms/sms/etc between devices easy and saves on hassles of having different software suites for different phones.

The only solution I have found to take screenshots directly on a mobile without full (permanently) rooting it is to soft root it using the RATC (RageAgainstTheCage) exploit either directly with ADB or far more easily using a tool like UnRevoked. This roots the phone until it is turned off, where upon a restart the phone is once more unrooted.

Lastly, if you just want to take screen shots of your website or web-app, you can do it without any rooting by installing the excellent DolphinHD browser and Screen-Cut plugin. This also has added advantage of being able to take full length shots of your page as one screenshot.

Note: AFAIK this applies to almost all devices I've seen up to Android Froyo (2.2) and most Gingerbread (2.3) and tablets. Some manufacturers may have implemented their own screenshot system.

Though I agree with the sentiment, this is a lot easier to say when external to the problem. Much of it is about fixing or changing lifestyle and behaviour, and in such cases it may be easier to go for "safe" wins, such as a day job, with certain and known results (positives such as known income, and the negative such as web-app/startup opportunity cost) and building up and moving forward before re-exposing one self to risk (esp as it is similar as per his situation before).

The higher risk 'do another startup' could be the way to go, but in such an environment/situation, I fear this perhaps is only shying away from underlying problems and hence it is better to take safe route and fix them first.

Being originally from a background and area where this is rife, I can only offer the following:

1. Change your mindset - Positive things happen to positive people, as basically they envision the positive result they want and engineer (either consciously or subconsciously) towards it. Negative people think they will always fail, hence don't try, hence fail, and vicious self-reinforcing circle repeats. This is hard to to when depressed, hence why you need to to change lifestyle as per following as example.

2. Take any job - It's not about doing something you love or pays well, but getting out of the house and changing your environment. A fresh/different perspective, new scenery, fresh air, and interacting with other (different) people always helps. It can also help you find structure and (different) routine in your life.

3. Focus on one change at a time - Thinking about everything at once can be overwhelming. Try and make one change at a time. Do the easiest (most achievable) things first. Success at them will make you feel good and help as building block to next (harder) thing.

4. Don't worry about external opinions of nay sayers - You are not in competition with others, only yourself, so as hard as it may be, focus on your path at the pace you are happy with and ignore what others say. The key thing is you keep moving forward, positively, even if only one step each day. Once you stop standing, and start moving, you will inevitably make progress, and that progress will help you move more.

5. Build income - Inevitably money is the cornerstone to fixing many problems in life, and with an income that meets your base needs, you may then be afforded the opportunity to do things you want to do, not have to. This could be something like hiring a carer a few days/hours a week so you have time to do something you want e.g. build your skills/portfolio/resume for a future step of a new/better job.

6. Do not be emotionally black mailed or feel guilt for wanting to live your life - We all have our paths to walk in this life and sadly there are people that will put you down or try to stop you for no good reason (i.e. your path is not self-destructive such as drug abuse) and its to do with what they want rather than what is best for you. No matter how hard it is to say this, or resentment parents/family may feel, but they have lived their lives and made their choices. You must live yours and make yours, even if in the immediate term it upsets people. In due time, most people realise things were for the good and the initial negative reaction such family has is more about the change itself rather than why/what change is for. One way to smooth this is to give people notice so change is not unexpected i.e. tell them you are telling them, tell them, tell them you told them, do it.

Your reputation is only as good as the people who know it. Most HR will not have heard of you (unless you are a high-profile leader in your field) and hence the desire for a rubber stamp from a brand company. It's the same reason many people desire Ivy League education, not for the learning, but the brand name that will make entry to most jobs a lot easier (as HR/Company assume certain level of quality/competency/work-ethic/etc has been met).

Generally found that most Caucasian dating sites work if you are Caucasian (or want to date Caucasian people), which in hindsight seems obvious really.

The "popular" ethnic sites (e.g. shaadi.com) are geared more towards "marriage" than "dating", but surprisingly most ethnic people on them want to "get to know you first" for a long time (in most Indo society this is usually done in a family context i.e. with others around, and for a relatively short period of time before a marriage decision is made, the short time frame being there to protect the individuals i.e. modesty of girls, and prevent "undesirable" behaviour, all this being counter balanced by the families getting involved to ensure matches are good and process does not take excessively long), which is basically "dating" by another name (but seems more socially/culturally acceptable, especially in Indo cultures, due to the "marriage" pretext/context).

Perhaps many people are on them as there is no major ethnic alternative, hence I think an ethnic OKCupid (or clone) would do well. I may even try to build (an albeit rubbish) one for Show HN November, lol.

Of course this is a single view garnered through anecdotal evidence, observation of many others (over the years), lots of general discussion on the topic with people from all walks of life, and based on a small sample size, so totally unscientific, but yet remarkably true.

I remember http://www.razume.com/ being a useful (and free) service back in 2008, where many professional recruiters would give visual feedback and good advice. Not sure what it is like now (seems more crowd-sourced), but maybe be worth a try.

But in many fields e.g. finance/banking/consulting, its all about the bonus, which can be several times your salary.

(and yes, this in many ways is the root cause of the current world financial problem, but just saying)

The BBC had a documentary on Warren Buffet last week that is worth watching http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nn7vs/The_Worlds_Gre... (website is discussed at 00:32:37)

Berkshire Hathaway run a $150BN business with a staff of just twenty, and Buffet often points out having a fancy website is not a priority as long as it is functional.

In many ways their website is analogous to the likes of Google in providing just enough to make it useful and not much more.

They discussed his website on a recent BBC documentary (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nn7vs) at 00:32:37 (transcribed below). The whole documentary is certainly worth watching.

  Davis:
  "Berkshire Hathaway is a massive company which feels like a family firm.
  All the usual corporate vanities are absent and not a cent is wasted. Take a
  look at the Berkshire Hathaway website here. To call it low key would be to put it
  kindly, it looks though it's from about 1994, no-frills. All the financial data
  is here but they haven't even got around to even uploading a photo. And
  that's all very much Warren Buffets style - why waste money on a designer.
  Buffet insists his website does the job."

  Buffet:
  "I think it's what we are, I mean, it's factual."

  Davis:
  "You could put a little picture of something on there perhaps, or."

  Buffet:
  "I want people to get facts about Berkshire and, you know, I don't
  really think it makes any difference what I look like."

  ---

  Davis:
  "Buffets idiosyncratic style is not just charming, it's a financial asset,
  it saves time and money..."

If Pinax is such a pain, can anyone make any recommendations on what to use/do if you did want to build a social-networking site using Django?

OK, a 20-something with less life experience may benefit more from the event than a 40-something, and be more likely to actually do a startup (having generally fewer commitments etc.), but hopefully they won't use age to rule people out if they have a technical background and genuine desire to do a startup even later in life.

No. Maybe.

Speculating, but apart from the benevolence aspect, probably to establish close links with companies that will use Red Gate products, and ideally (re)sell them to other client companies (hence desire on business-orientated rather that consumer-orientated startups), as well as to ideally make an investment or take equity in any companies that go through the process at a later stage.

But why not ask them directly?...

  Neil Davidson
  neil.davidson@red-gate.com
  twitter: @neildavidson
  (http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/)

  Amir Chaudhry
  amir.chaudhry@red-gate.com
  twitter: @amirmc

They provide (amongst other things)...

  - mentoring (10 weeks in incubator, then ongoing)
  - speakers e.g. Ryan Carson, Joel Spolsky
  - office space
  - accomodation
  - money (expenses & living allowance while in incubator)
  - free breakfast and lunch every day
  - sessions on product management and sales

Seems the motivation is work with "smart, exciting people" and build relationships with those trying to build "companies where the customers are other businesses rather than consumers".

They describe this as an "accidental incubator"...

  "Over the course of the last 10 months we’ve managed
   to create an accidental incubator.

  After meeting start-ups at various events, we found
  ourselves playing host to about a dozen people across 
  five companies here at our offices. They all seem to 
  like it, and we like them, which inspired us to put 
  together Springboard."

For people who have little money, and are able to do so, going "freegan" may be an idea...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6933744.stm

...it is better than subsistence on what is often very low quality (i.e. nutritional value) food.

Totally agree and hence now avoid PayPal at all costs.

It seems they have this policy as it is cheaper to deal with an unhappy seller who has little/no protection legal or otherwise (especially if they have used thier PayPal balance for payment) and who will generally not chase them through the court system (in which case PayPal will argue it is a case between the buyer and seller, not PayPal and the seller), than an unhappy buyer who often has the backing of thier credit card company (or bank) to fight chargebacks on thier behalf and in most cases win.

As a vendor/retailer, especially if you have your own ecommerce store or sell high value items, be VERY wary of PayPal and only ever complete transactions if all buyer details match and protections are in place (buyers are verified and items sent only to card billing address).

Posted something similar a while back, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=361361, and it is sad to see little has changed.

A reliable revenue model only increases confidence in a service such as backups. It is always good to know your backups won't disappear because the service has gone bust.

> But I'm building tarsnap first and foremost to be the backup service I would want to use -- and who wants to pay more than necessary? I certainly wouldn't.

Always good to see someone scratch thier own itch then sell the solution as they would want it.

I know this is off topic, but just wanted to thank you for your wonderful efforts on Django etc.

From http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516108

Only one server:

    Old: 2.4 GHz Pentium 4, 4 GB RAM, 32-bit FreeBSD 5.3.
    New: 3.0 GHz Core whatever, 12 GB RAM, 64-bit FreeBSD 7.1.

Not sure of how or where server is hosted or what else is used e.g. router/firewall/bandwidth/ups/utilities/etc., but if pg/rtm billed for time all other costs would be insignificant.

Maintainance:

A lot less than most people considering it's rtm and pg.

Quick thoughts...

Much of this (debtors prisons [and people fleeing Dubai immediately upon losing jobs and leaving behind luxury cars/apartments to avoid it], modern day enslavement, under-classes [predominantly based on ethnicity] and lack of civil-rights and liberty for most classes) has been publicised for a long time among the ethnic communities.

However, it seems when times were good it was easy for western people to turn a blind eye and what most people saw in the mainstream western media were positive articles about how great Dubai was/would be (due to vested interests?), even ignoring obvious issues regarding Arab law and culture and environment.

Now that the worldwide financial crisis is catching up with Dubai it is good to see these issues being brought out into the mainstream and exposed more openly, but I cannot help but think it is predominately because Westerners themselves are now being affected. Where was the outcry for the Fillipinos/Bangladeshis/etc. in mainstream Western media before?

This article is coincides with a lot of current UK media attention on Dubai including many programs on UK TV (e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jqgww/Panorama_Slumd...)

In a way, this is actually a good sign. It shows the content providers are scared. You are not doing things right if you are not shaking things up and scaring people. That is what disruptive technology is about.

Many startups face similar challenges and this reminds me of the struggles ones such as GlassesDirect.co.uk had to go through before becoming successful (they could have been crushed many times by Goliaths but fought through) - it had to close several times when major competitors and retailers tried to sabotage its business by forcing manufacturers/suppliers to drop GlassesDirect (else they would withdraw their vastly larger orders) and running smear campaigns in the press with false allegations about why using the service was illegal and substandard.

In this case, yes, content providers have a right to choose where/how their content is shown, but this is probably more to do with not getting licensing fees from Boxee than anything else. However, if they do not adopt/embrace legal methods such as Boxee (and insert extra adverts etc. to make the revenue they want), then they only encourage illegal methods.

---

Concerted efforts to sabotage the new venture have proved fruitless. In September, his main supplier mysteriously dropped him. “They suddenly said they couldn’t do business with me. I reckon they had pressure put on them by a high-street chain. It took me a week to find a new supplier and re-do the website.” The trade press confirmed his paranoia when letters and articles appeared questioning the firm’s credentials and the General Optical Council launched an investigation. “Groundless attacks. I have fully qualified opticians working in labs, making the glasses. [http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/archive/4775601/feature-glasse...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Murray_Wells

I like Neils bio. A real example of perseverance paying off, even without formal education at the early stages...

http://www.quicksprout.com/about/

If he didn't care so much about what kind of advertising 4chan users have to look at, he probably wouldn't be worried about money right now.

If this article is an accurate portrayal, it is surprising yet sad someone with such a site (sole owner, >5M visitors, sustained growth+traffic over years, source of numerous profitable spin-offs, etc.) is in debt and unprofitable.

Surely it is better to run ads that are not optimal but make you money (a balanced comprise), than be unhappy, in debt, and looking for a job?

I don't think he would be happy in most day jobs either (as such people rarely are) and with an income stream he could pursue other ideas that interest him.

Sorry, incase it was not obvious meant the final buttons in the article not the ones they actually use in production (which he says you have to reverse engineer yourself) as per his comment http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/02/04/recreating-the-butt...

You cannot always make back any money you lose, if you could, the world would not be in this current financial crisis and the many before it.

In case you miss the (non-obvious) link in the article (or do not want to read it), the final buttons (v3.1, created without using any images) are...

http://stopdesign.com/eg/buttons/3.1/code.html

http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ojbyrne built Digg for $10 per hour (and a total cost of ~$200) and was hired through elance...

http://digg.com/programming/Digg_com_created_for_only_200_00

...so you can get your ideas implemented well at a low cost, but what you do with it then and how you progress is really the hard part.